The Literature of Shetland

This book is the first ever history of Shetland's literature. Covering over two centuries of creative work, The Literature of Shetland brings many obscure local authors into the light, and offers new and insightful readings of better-known figures. Pioneering early female writers Margaret Chalmers and Dorothea Primrose Campbell are discussed alongside their famous contemporary Sir Walter Scott. Shetland's rich tradition of dialect writing is explored in more detail than ever before. Hugh MacDiarmid's sojourn in Whalsay is given extensive consideration, as is the work of authors such as J.J Haldane Burgess, Jessie M.E Saxby, William J. Tait and Robert Alan Jamieson. Based on several years of original research, this book gives the readers the chance to understand and enjoy hundreds of poems and stories, some of which have never been seen before.